This morning, the folks behind Seattle-based independent audiobook seller Libro.fm revealed their big new idea: a website called Bookstore Link. It's a super-simple way to share links for people to easily buy specific titles from their local independent bookstores. First you enter the title you'd like to share, and then, if you'd like, you can choose the independent bookstore you'd like to link to. The site then creates an easy link to share on social media that makes it easy for folks to buy from an independent bookstore. Libro.fm doesn't take a cut of any of this transaction — the bookstore makes 100 percent of the sale. It's a simple way to promote your favorite indie bookseller online, and to drive readers away from a certain large online retailer that's currently swallowing the entire world. Here's a (very self-serving) example of what it looks like to link to a particular bookstore, and here's what it looks like when you send people to find an indie bookstore near them. I'll be talking with the creators of Bookstore Link about the making of this service soon; stay tuned for that interview.

Congratulations to the King County Library System, which was just recognized with two Library Journal awards. KCLS was honored as a five-star library system, meaning it excels in six categories ranging from the quality of its collections to the strength of its wifi, and the Tukwila branch of KCLS was honored as a Landmark Library designed to “meet today’s challenges and create tomorrow’s opportunities.”

Zora, a blog celebrating women writers of color, just released "The Zora Canon," which they describe as "our list of the 100 greatest books ever written by African American women." Yes, the books you're thinking of are on this list, but I guarantee you haven't heard of all of them. Check it out.

Here's a very good cartoon about JK Rowling officially becoming a Problematic Author.

And speaking of Problematic Authors, I was horrified to learn that Isaac Asimov was a very public — proud, even — serial groper of women:

Asimov was open about his practices: “I kiss each young woman who wants an autograph and have found, to my delight, that they tend to cooperate enthusiastically in that particular activity.” He defended himself by saying that he was universally seen as “harmless,” and the implication that it was all just an act culminated in his satirical book The Sensuous Dirty Old Man (1971), in which he wrote, “The question then is not whether or not a girl should be touched. The question is merely where, when, and how she should be touched.”